let me begin by thanking vice president joe biden for your dedication to this issue, for bringing so many different voices to the table because while reducing gun violence is a complicated challenge, protecting our children from harm shouldn't be a divisive one. over the month since the tragedy in newtown, we have heard from so many and obviously none have affected us more than the families of those gorgeous children and their teachers and guardians who were lost and so we are grateful to all of you for taking time to be here and recognizing that we honor their memories in part by doing everything we can to prevent this from happening again. we also heard from some unexpected people, in particular i started getting a lot of letters from kids. four of them are here today. brand fritz, juliet stokes, and teja goode. these are some pretty smart letters from some pretty smart young people. a third grader -- you can wait, that is you. she road i feel terrible for the parents who lost their children. i love my country and i want everybody to be happy and safe. and grant said i think there